Brazil thread

[Lawrence]

>>>
Btw 2: Sometimes I feel myself inclined to believe that the Soviet failure
is not related to socialism, but is essentially a failure of "late
modernization" in fact, no underdeveloped countries became developed in this
century, and
South Korea, which almost achieved it, is starting to face serious troubles,
(I don?t know if  Portugal, Spain and Taiwan are exceptions to this)
Alexandre Fenelon
<<<

I know everybody is supposed to know this, but I don't so somebody clue me
in. Why is it that no undeveloped nation can modernize? Why do so many of
these countries have a good decade or two, come close, but then fade away?
Is there a well known theory about this that everybody accepts? Is there a
well known book that nearly everyone quotes from when this subject comes up?
What are the classics on this subject?